A potager is essentially a garden where you grow things to eat, but it’s also a French philosophy of living that is connected to the seasons. In her American potager garden, Jennifer Bartley retains many of the basic elements of the French version, including growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers; picking a site near the kitchen; planning so that something can be picked every day of the year; and making the space beautiful and productive.
Jennifer’s company, American Potager, borrows the core concepts of a French vegetable garden, or jardin potager. “The French have always understood this connection between what is growing in the garden and what is being served at the table — the soup of the day changes throughout the year as the season changes,” she says.
Jennifer explains that formal designs and vegetable gardens have gone hand-in-hand for centuries. “Rectangles and squares are easy to work with because they line up well with houses and garages,” she says. “If you build raised beds out of wood, you find a way to combine rectangles and squares in a pleasing way, so formal designs for the structure of the garden make sense.” When it comes to actually planting the beds, she says this is where creativity can run wild — plants can be laid out more randomly than in formal grids and rows and grown more closely together.
Choose sun and easy access. Gardens that produce food need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, so look for a sunny location that is easily accessed from the house. She adds that the American potager is beautiful as well as useful, and she wants to be able to look at it every day.
Structure and chaos. Her design follows a traditional style with four central beds, but Jennifer has surrounded these with flowering perennials (including generous clumps of peonies, yarrow, and ‘Little Lamb’ and ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas) as well as shrubs, evergreens, and a charming picket fence. “As a designer, I love the juxtaposition of rigid lines and sharp edges with the chaos and looseness of rambling flowers and plants,” she says. “This yin and yang makes good design.”
The four central beds are the main production areas of the garden. Each is edged with a low border of compact herbs — such as parsley, marjoram, and basil — and flowers such as sweet alyssum. Along the inside edge of each bed, a low hedge of ‘Profusion White’ zinnias supplies ample blooms for the vase and a convenient landing pad for busy pollinators. For the interior of each bed, Jennifer has chosen a selection of gourmet edibles. These include warm-season plants such as heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, eggplant, okra, Malabar spinach, and Thai basil; and cold-season crops such as lettuce, Asian greens, and Brussels sprouts. Certain plants, such as the tomatoes, have been repeated in each of the beds, lending further symmetry to the garden. A pot planted with spearmint sits at the heart of the garden.
Star edibles. Some of Jennifer’s favorite edibles include Italian parsley, ‘Sweet Genovese’ basil, tomatoes, young squash, purple beans, and garlic. “The heirloom scarlet runner bean gets planted every year, to climb up bamboo poles or on metal trellises,” she says. “We love watching the hummingbirds sip nectar from the bright red edible flowers.”
Flowers also play an important role in Jennifer’s plan, attracting insects, butterflies, and birds to the garden, and making beautiful centerpiece bouquets on a table. She likes to include ornamentals such as coneflowers, lavender, anise hyssop, yarrow, and peonies.
1. Heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, lettuce, Thai basil, and ground cherries (Physalis)
2. Scarlet runner beans and pole beans
3. Okra, squash (bush variety), and eggplants
4. Brussels sprouts, ‘Lemon Gem’ marigolds, and tomatillos
5. Cucumbers (climbing) and Malabar spinach
6. Asian greens, rosemary, bulb fennel, and heirloom and hybrid tomatoes
7. Calendulas, heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, rosemary, and bulb fennel
8. Cucumbers (climbing) and pole beans
9. Sweet peppers, ‘Lemon Gem’ marigolds, and tomatillos
10. Calendula, heirloom and hybrid tomatoes, lettuce, and Thai basil
11. ‘Sweet Genovese’ basil
12. ‘Profusion White’ zinnias (nonedible ornamental)
13. Marjoram
14. Flat-leaved (Italian) parsley
15. Sweet alyssum (nonedible ornamental) and garlic
16. ‘Little Lamb’ hydrangea (nonedible ornamental)
17. ‘Green Gem’ boxwood (nonedible ornamental)
18. Mixed peony border (nonedible ornamental)
19. American cranberrybush viburnum (edible fruits)
20. ‘Limelight’ hydrangea (nonedible ornamental)
21. Yew hedge (nonedible ornamental)
22. ‘Coronation Gold’ yarrow (nonedible ornamental)
23. Borage
24. ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea (nonedible ornamental)
25. Hops